My motor has recently started knocking... No complaints though.. 320,000 miles on it. It's been good and I would like to keep it. I was hoping someone could help me with my decision. I guess I should start off my saying that I have a 91 Nissan Maxima SE (5spd). I want to put a powerful motor in it but don't want to go too crazy. I would like to find a performance rebuild kit and possibley put a bigger cam... I'm going to shave down my heads and a few more odds and ends. I already have a cold air intake and a subframe under it. I have a motor in a 87 Nissan Maxima (5spd). Could I rebuild it? Does anyone know where to find a performance rebuild kit? Thanks for your time and when I get more time I will post pics of my car.

Thanks,
Justin

P.S. I would also like to find guage pods to go next to my windshield. I've seen them on websites but they didn't have them for my Max. If you know of any that are made for another make, but will work for mine... Please let me know.

 

Save you money for the motor, don't worry about gauge pods. They are really unnecessary unless you have some sort of programmable fuel injection computer or other sort of high-end mod (turbo/supercharger etc). You're pretty much stuck with the VG motor that was in your car. There have been many threads on this forum that have dealt with motor swaps... give the search function a try and read up.

 

www.paeco.com will have what you need. Trust me on that..get the catalog before you buy anything. Also, DON"T SHAVE THE HEADS. Not necessary and bad for cam timing..moves the cam closer to the crank..the tensioner on the t-belt can only make up so much. Just stick with stock compression and have the heads ported and polished with new Isky cams or the like. If you must have higher compression, try new pistons. You could always go with a straight stock vgt conversion. All you really need are the ECU and engine, there is no intercooler...most other stuff bolts right up. hooking up the exhaust is the only real custom part of this swap. Do it!

 

The Vg30e can be built up for some serious n/a power. About $3-$4k in parts alone should do it (not including balance/blueprint, etc). I'm not going to mention any HP numbers, since I don't want to get in a fight but, the VG definitely has potential. I know for a fact it has been discussed in length here so read up on as much as you can find.

 

WhenI first came on this board I heard of a 300hp VG30 engine and I think it was by Hiekman(sp?), someone correct me if I'm wrong but if I were you I'd save my money for that.

 

There's someone on the org that has over 250hp on a VG. If you can find him/her, contact them, see if he'll share his secrets!

 

That Hekimian engine is pretty damn expensive though. I mean, $9k when you could do it yourself and have about as much power for $3-5k. Still, the fact that Hekimian got a VG to ~300hp proves that VG's can make some nice numbers. I still can't figure out why he lists it as having only 240lbs of torque? The VG has always been good with torque so I'd think it would be a little more like 260-280lb/ft.

92vemaxse, do you know anything about that guy's VG? I'm just curious since it didn't ring any bells. All the mods and internals I had planned should be good for MAYBE 260+ crank HP(?just an estimate). Though, there is no way to really know until I've done it and put it on the dyno. Still, you can definitely build up the VG to over a good 220-230 crank hp without doing anything crazy. A good mid-range (mild) cam and 10.5:1cr pistons (or higher cr but, I think 10.5 is fine for me!) w/ all the bolt ons is a good start towards some impressive hp numbers. Just remember about the fuel system! You'll definitely need to do some upgrading there if you do some serious upgrading elsewhere.

If you want some "easy" hp then the Vg30et swap is one way to go. If you know what you are doing, it's easy I guess and you can get some serious hp out of it. Though, there are arguments as to which (build up or swap) is easier/better. Bottom line, do as much research as possible and learn as much as you can. There is more than enough info hidden in this forum to figure out how to do a swap or get ideas for building an engine.

 

I'll try step by step to get to his page
1) www.maxima.org/ (homepage)
2) click on members
3) click on members pages (car domain hosted)
4) Check only the race box
5) Enter 1992 for the year
6) Two cars will show up, click the one with 2 stars, the bottom one.
It's a white GXE w/ 285hp

 

Check out Z31.com for the real deal. Those guys have 500 hp vgt's. Z cars running 11's. The real trick is to use the VG33 from a pathfinder..Bigger bore, tougher block, slightly better head. Swap the cams, lower compression, big turbo=12 second maxima. But even running an NA VG33 with highr compression would work well in a Max. and could be done for cheap. Las I remember the VG33 pathfinders were 250hp..or were those DOHC?

 

92vemaxse, that guy is using nitrous. I remember seeing his Cardomain page before. To me, nitrous doesn't count. I know there are arguments for/against it but, I hate the stuff. Thanks for pointing his car out though.

Yep, the Vg33 is definitely something to consider. Build it up, add a turbo and you could definitely get some serious hp. However, the Vg33e is only 170hp and 198lb/ft torque (I think). That's still a good improvement over stock though. Trust me, if it was 250hp, tons of people would have done it by now. I think you are thinking of the Vg33de s/c version or something (I forget, I have it written down somewhere). It would work also, if you drive around with out a hood on! j/k

 

VG33is S/C SOHC

 

VG33 certainly has potential. That will be the basis for my motor. More displacement in a beefier block.

 

anyone know what year pathfinders the vg33 is in?

 

Good question. I know they are the 2nd generation (?), you know, not the boxy ones. I have worked on them and always thought it was a vg30..olooks exactly like it with different intake.
By the way, my friend has a 2001 Pathfinder SE 5spd with 250hp..not supercharged..NA from the factory. Those newer pathfinders are bad ***. I went for a ride..pulls hard. The SC'd frontier has like 210Hp..pretty weak from a forced induction engine 6 cyl IMO. Come on Nissan!

 

I wasn't sure if it was SOHC. Either way, 250hp is pretty damn impressive from a n/a 3.3L. Looks like I'm going to need to do some more research on that engine! I bet they would be pretty expensive, considering how new they are though.

 

Actually, I was right. The 250hp engine people are thinking of is the Vq35de Specs The Vg33e is 170hp and I think 198lb/ft torque to be exact (they always just round up to 200l/ft wherever I see specs). Either way, that's a great base engine to start with. The extra displacement will certainly make any build-up or turbo project that much more effective/powerful compared to a 3.0L

 

Thanks for clearing that up. The bigger displacement will be great. It turns out that vg33, vgt, vg30 all have the same crank, rods and pistons (with exception of the vgt with lower comp pistons). The z31 guys have proven the reliability and strngth of the vg crank rods and pistons good for 400hp...500 with aftermarket forged pistons. So my solution has come to light. Drop some forged pistons on good vg33 rods and crank and I've god the solid motor I was seeking, and alot cheaper than going the TT-crank-rods-and-pistons-in-a-vg33-block route. And crank fitment issues either. How sweet! Now all that's left to do is build the damn thing!

 

OT: But did any body else see that z31 run 8s on espn2 yesterday

 

NO, but I'd like to see pics of that. What race was it?

 

Damn!

 

There are guys on z31.com in the 11's

 

TY guys for all your help. I was also wondering if anyone knew where to get the pillar guages. I've seen them at sites like www.autometer.com but they don't have them for my Max. I was wondering if anyone knew about some that were made for another car but would be close enough to work for mine. Once again ty for all your help.